Working on video content for the anime blog has been something I’ve been wanting to do through most of the last twelve months but the project I was working on got trashed when I had to change computers and my new computer was not compatible with the video editor I’d spent all that time learning to use.
I also realised I just didn’t have time to produce that sort of content with any regularity. However, I’ve been slowly learning a new program and have finally produced something as an introduction to add to my patreon page. As it is the first video content I have ever actually gotten to upload online, I would really appreciate feedback, hints, tips, opinions and anything else you could offer as this is most definitely an ongoing learning process.
I’ve decided that I want making video content to be more than an aspiration many years down the track. I want to move forward with this goal. However, to make that a reality, I do need to start making the blog profitable in the long run. That said, there aren’t any massive changes coming up as I continue to love writing the current content, but as I start achieving some of my goals on patron I’m going to work to see what I can produce in addition to the current content. Hopefully it will end up being something worthwhile.
As always, a huge thanks to the patrons who already support me and hopefully soon I will be able to provide you with more great (mostly reasonable) content.
Thanks for reading.
Karandi James
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First thing I’d change would be the music, I get that your going for an 80’s fantasy feel, (read through the comments to see if you mentioned a reason for using it) but while it is definitely 80’s I would say it came off as being more like the opening to one of those old, learn something new tutorial vhs’s, like golf. Or at best, A Transition in an old educational show teaching kids how to read. As A huge 80’s fantasy fan I didn’t get that fantasy feel at all.
The editing is decent, I never could get so many different pictures moving at once like that.
Thanks for the feedback.
Oh neat! Kudos for giving video stuff a shot! Hmm. I’m not actually certain how much help I could actually be on the actual technical side. I pretty much just play everything by eye/ear. I see cool things that others do in their videos, maybe look up a YouTube tutorial every once in a while on how to do something vaguely similar from a technical standpoint, and wing it with my own style, basically. The only thing I’d really say about your video that I don’t believe has already been said is that in the first… we’ll call it a “shot,” when all those images show up and split off into different directions, having them just pop onto the screen is a tad jarring, especially against such soft, easygoing, and whimsical music. So you may wanna implement some sort of transition, like maybe a cross dissolve.
The content, itself, is pretty straightforward. The basic summation of what you do is plenty important, of course, but I think the key factor is to inject as much personality as you feel fits how you want to present yourself. That way people come to know a little of who they’re signing up to support. As long as said personality is genuine. It /is/ your product, after all… well… that and your book. But you get what I mean. Enthusiasm also works wonders. There’s something about it that’s infectious and keeps people invested. The more enthusiastic you can manage to sound, the mother enthusiastic other will be about helping you out. The less enthusiastic, the more likely they are to wonder if even /you/ care about what you’re doing. Which leads them to question if they should. Though one should obviously avoid going overboard on that. The more cynical viewer is just going to take that as “trying too hard,” regardless of whether or not the over-abundance of enthusiasm is actually genuine. Of course, the other benefit is that hitting the sweet spot on personality and enthusiasm will pretty much guarantee that your audience (or, rather, the people you’re aiming at to /become/ your audience) won’t be bored.
Also: Beware. Ani-Tubing is a minefield of Content Claims and Copyright Strikes if you plan on using clips (Which is largely why we pretty much only use still images… for now). It’s an especially big problem, the bigger the stuff you wanna talk about gets. Toei, for example? Yeah, expect problems from them. Japan’s a bit… at odds with the whole “Fair Use” thing. Images are safer, sure, but since they’re static you’ll want to find some way to enhance them with either motion or effects. Some marriage of the two tends to also work as well. But baby-steps and all that. I dunno what Editor you’re using. Some come with some effects basically built in. And pretty much all of them come with the ability to manipulate motion pretty easily and effectively. And if all else fails, a little humor goes a long way to distract from the static images on the screen. If ya do run into trouble with unfair strikes/claims, here’s a Hack – don’t shut up about it. Make a big deal of it. And for particularly egregious cases, ask other creators for help (bonus points if they’re somewhat bigger than you). They can signal boost. Which has the effect of both giving you enough of a voice to fight back, and potentially boosting your audience if they bring enough attention your way.
Honestly, even doing this for some 7 years, now, there’s always more I’m learning. I generally use incredibly basic tricks since our show doesn’t require a ton of complex edits. But whenever I edit something else or for someone else’s project, I find out a ton of new tricks. A lot of the technical stuff ya just wind up figuring out as it becomes necessary to employ it.
Hope that helps!
Thanks so much for the advice. I really appreciate it. I’ve been reading up on copyright and some of the issues there for awhile now and that does look like it will be a bit of an issue however hopefully I can avoid stepping on anyone’s toes.
Again, thank you for taking the time to give me some great feedback.
Amazing step forward!
For the video itself, I felt that the bitrate was a little lagging behind, so the frames suffered somehow? Also, perhaps a different coloured background would do better.
And definitely have a voice over if you can. It would be lovely.
Thank you for the feedback.
The background is definitely not a winner so I will think about what to do with it. Thanks.
If you are looking to learn specific software, state and/or regional library membership likely gives you access to LYNDA courses. I know that there is a heck of a lot of decent courses of video editing software on there and you don’t have to pay the monthly subscription. I highly recommend that you look into it to see if there are any courses relevant to your current software budget. Me? My software budget to FFXIV.
If you are looking for music to use, I recommend you look into the offerings over at incompetech. Kevin MacCloed has been running the site for many years, offering attribute-only and fully licensed options for use of his extensive library of compositions. If you aren’t already familiar with the site, here is the link: https://incompetech.com/ I’ll try to track down some other royalty-free websites but highly recommend that you chose multiple websites for your video hosting as YT has been all over the place of late. e.g. Vimeo and BitChute
Thanks for the advice. I’m probably not looking for an actual course as I am just kind of self-learning when I have time and using various online tutorials. I was making reasonable progress but then had to change computers and software which means I’m kind of starting over and having to learn something new. If I had more time I could look into something a little more formal like a course but that’s absolutely not going to happen with my current schedule.
As for music, thanks for the link. I’ve got some links to sites that allow you to access music but other than an intro I’m probably not going to use music overly extensively.
All of the LYNDA courses that I’ve done have been structured tutorials with suggested exercises for deep learning. My state library membership allows a confirmation of completion for the purposes of a LinkedIn resume, which may or may not be of interest. For me, those structured courses have allowed me to find features that I would have otherwise been unaware of.
Having the software and other relevant equipment from the get-go can pose a challenge but tutorials can potentially give you a clue as to whether or not you wish to use the software. I usually go for free and open source options because I can’t justify the expense. Also, a lot of software is using a subscription option these days, whether it be Adobe, Microsoft or some other large publisher. If I am unlikely to use the software regularly, it doesn’t make sense to go that route either.
Just out of curiosity, are you familiar with FaceRig? I know of a few content creators that like to use it. Gigguk gave it a run for his video “Your Waifu Doesn’t Love You”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn_bLGhZCaY Even though I had been aware of it beforehand, it made me even more interested.
This is probably getting far ahead of where I am at this point, though I am familiar with FaceRig and have seen it used a few times.
Again, looking at very small steps right now.
I asked about FaceRig because I know a few people that have gone that route for their videos. And yes, all of these new pieces of software and tutorials can chew a large portion of your time. I guess the next question is: How much time and money do you want to put into the video content side of your anime blogging?
At this point, the whole point of the patreon is to try to earn enough money to have the time to put into this as a long term thing.
I used to make 20+ minute video reviews on blip.tv (remember that site? no me neither) about 5 or 6 years ago. I only made a half dozen before getting discouraged by the work load and lack of positive reaction. Is your video content just going to be like that introduction, no voices or appearing on camera?
As for feedback on that video, it’s okay, the images move a bit quickly and the music’s a bit sterile, plus I’m not sure on the font. Sorry if that seems like a lot of negatives!
As for tips, the video could stand to be a bit smoother, a bit softer, maybe larger text and not so many different colours, but then again I don’t know what kind of aesthetic and feel you’re going for.
Ultimately I am going to get my voice in there as well, but small steps. One must crawl before they can walk and must walk before they can run.
The images do move too quickly. I played around with that and that was something I still wasn’t happy with even when I finally kicked myself mentally and told myself to stop procrastinating forever.
As for the music, I kind of like it. It kind of has an 80’s children’s fantasy film feel to it (think Never-ending story with zero budget) and that kind of works for me personally. I get it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea.
Thanks for taking the time to watch it and give me meaningful feedback. Hopefully the next attempt won’t take this long (it has been over a year since I suggested I would attempt a video that I’ve been procrastinating and going back and forth) to produce something else and I will definitely appreciate more feedback so that I can keep getting better at this.
No problem, I look forward to seeing the video content you produce!
I have very limited experience with video editing, but always make sure to make your backgrounds interesting and eye-catching. Sprinkle in interesting video clips from different shows. I think video content will be a cool addition for you ^_^
Video content would be great if I can learn how to do it properly. I’ve been very hesitant to jump into it because the last thing I want to do is produce dull content. I’d rather stick with text than produce videos no one is interested in or are incredibly poor quality.
Thanks for taking the time to give me some feedback. I appreciate it.
I’m glad to see your branching our Karandi. Making videos is no easy feat I don’t consider myself amazing at doing videos honestly. For your first video ever it was not bad. From watching other peoples patreon introduction videos and if I were to be going about doing a introduction video. I’d first explain what brought me to blogging, the enjoyment it brings and in the reasons what brought me to wanting to branch out. Id explain what I cover on my blog and the direction I’d want to go in.
In a introduction video you really have to sell yourself honestly to get people interested in why they should donate their money for the content your creating. When speaking in the introduction add in some funny lines like I would use “Welcome to my pateron folks where blogging is not as dead as you think it is”. I have a whacky sense when it comes to talking about anything anime. I’d want people to feel invited and be a warm introduction. I don’t personally like it when people say in pateron videos “there is no obligation to donate” people take that the wrong way. Because I’ve found it makes people feel bad. I’d just say “Would like to support me on my blogging journey then all you deserve a bunch of roses from yours truly” something along those lines I wouldnt want to come off as a attention seeker.
It’s all about practice honestly and don’t put out something your not happy with. Can send anything to us blogger people for second opinions . I hope this has helped you
Thank you for your honest feedback. I’m well aware I am not good at selling myself and really I think this video was targeted at people who are already fairly familiar with me through my blog.
Still, I am aware a longer and more explanatory video will be needed down the track and I’ll definitely take your advice on board. Thanks so much.
Your most welcome. I only ever want honesty as well. as your doing right now Karandi your doing fantastic with your blog my friend XD